Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107560

Janetta Astone-Twerell, PhD¹, Shiela M. Strauss, PhD², Corrine E. Munoz-Plaza, MPH, Don DesJarlais, PhD⁴, Marya Gwadz, PhD², Holly Hagan, PhD⁵, Andrew Osborne, MS², and Andrew Rosenblum, PhD⁶. (1) Institute for Treatment Services Research, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., 71 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010, 212 845 4407, astone@ndri.org, (2) National Development and Research Institutes, Inc, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, (3) Chemical Dependency Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center, First Avenue at16th Street, New York City, NY 10003, (4) NDRI, 71 West 23rd, 8th floor, New York, NY 10010, (5) Institute for Treatment and Services Research, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., 71 West 23rd Street, 8th floor, New York, NY 10010

Drug treatment programs are uniquely situated to educate and test drug users for HCV, and facilitate their access to medical treatment when necessary. Drug treatment staff need to be well informed about HCV because their counsel can often influence patients' health-preserving behaviors. Because little is known about the level of HCV knowledge among drug treatment staff, this paper reports the results of a 36-item true-false HCV knowledge assessment among a convenience sample (N=61) of drug treatment staff and administrators attending a one-day professional conference in NY City. Scores ranged from 4 to 34 correct, with a mean of 22. Of special concern is that 10 of the 36 items were answered incorrectly by at least half of the respondents. For example, only 41% knew that IDUs are more likely to have HCV than HIV; only 23% knew that few people with HCV infection will develop cirrhosis, and only 15% knew that some people exposed to HCV clear the virus spontaneously. Respondents answered significantly more items correctly if they had attended an HCV workshop as compared with those who had not (24 vs. 15, p<.001), and if they had been in the substance abuse treatment field for at least 3 years as compared with those with less experience (24 vs.19, p=.017). These results underscore previous research findings of staff who perceived they needed HCV education yet few received such education at their drug treatment program. Results suggest the critical need for HCV staff training, especially those new to the field.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand how the level of HCV knowledge amount drug treatment staff impacts patients.
• Identify the areas of HCV that drug treatment staff have the least knowledge.
• Learn about an HCV knowledge assessment tool designed for drug treatment staff.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.